Dream of Doll Calla
My second BJD (ball-jointed doll) finally arrived! This is another one from Dream of Doll. I ordered her in March, but it took twelve weeks for her to arrive. Unfortunately, DoD was really swamped with orders due to their special event in January, so my order took an unusually long time.
In any event, she arrived safe and sound today. Before she was even ordered my mind was set to give her lighter hair and a bit of a punk look. She definetly has more "attitude" to her than Jaimee (my other BJD), whom appears more calm and kind.
I decided to name her Alexis. I'm not sure where the name came from, it just seemed to fit. So, as tradition, here are photos of the box opening. A storm rolled in right around the time I started. This, unfortunately, caused the lighting in my shots to change a lot.
Just like with Jaimee, Alexis was wrapped in several layers of bubble wrap and pillows.
I already had an outfit, wig and eyes waiting for her by the time she came. When you order one of these dolls you are able to make special requests for their face-up. For Alexis I requested blonde eyebrows since I knew I wanted her to have blonde hair. I think they did an amazing job! I must say, though, the wig I got for her is curled and a nightmare to deal with. The bangs were all over her face. She didn't look too happy about it.
My natural light didn't last long this time, so I didn't get many photos, but I think she's amazing! Exactly how I imagined her. I'll take more photos soon!
Wacom Cintiq
A great big package arrived today. It's something I hinted at and should have gotten a long time ago. After drawing with pencil and paper for more than 25 years, I finally make the move to digital and am now the proud owner of a Wacom Cintiq 12WX.
Until now, for most of my work, I've been drawing on paper, inking with transparent vellum and then scanning that into the computer for coloring. It's been a usable method, but it has some drawbacks. For one I'm not very good at inking and using the transparent vellum costs a lot of money. I would also go through Micron inking pens pretty regularly. Even then I would still have to do a lot of post work in PhotoShop to clean up my work before coloring.
Many artists today work purely digitally on their computer with a Wacom tablet. Many (many) years ago I bought a very small entry level Wacom called a Graphire. It had a drawing area of about 4x3 inches. The problem for me was, as with most Wacoms, you have to look at the computer screen while you draw on the pad. That method was really hard for me to work with. Another problem was that I rotate my paper when drawing to get a better angle for curved lines, which you can't really do with a Wacom. This was a big hindrance with the Wacom tablet. So I never used it and continued drawing on paper.
With my recent desire to draw again, I decided it was time to look into going digital... again. Fortunately, Wacom now sells a line of tablets that have a screen in them. This way you can draw right on the tablet and see what you're drawing. It's the closest thing to drawing on paper digitally. They have a 21 inch model, but it costs a small fortune and that size would also be pretty hard to deal with. I don't have a large desk. So the 12 inch model seemed perfect for me.
After watching a ton of YouTube videos about it, I also bumped into speed drawing videos with a paint program I only heard of, Paint Tools SAI. It's a Japaneses made paint program that a lot of manga artists use. It also has a great feature to let you rotate the canvas as you draw. I feel this will be a great and natural tool for me. With both these new tools I think I can comfortable move to completely digital artwork. I'll make posts here showing my progress. Maybe I'll throw in a couple cute girl pictures too!
Desk Diary 5-8-2011
It's been a long time since I posted a Desk Diary update. A lot has happened, but most importantly... I won the lottery!
Yes it's true, I won the lottery, not once, but TWICE! Unfortunately, instead of winning money, I'll be spending it. A lot of it. Of course, I'm not talking about a normal lottery here, it's the Volks Dolpa Lottery. I'm one of the lucky people that has won both the Neris and Airy Dollfie Dreams from Shining Hearts.
I've known about Dollfie Dreams for a while. About as long as I've known about resin BJDs. However, the few Dollfie Dreams I looked at never really appealed to me. That's why, instead, I bought my resin BJD girl(s). Though, as an anime/manga fan, I would sometimes still look at them. Now I wish that I looked into them more. It wasn't until recently that I noticed some amazing Dollfie Dreams on the figure.fm site, which caused me to really give them a serious look. After hearing about the Neris and Airy lottery, I knew I had to give it a try.
For those that don't know, Dollfie Dreams are similar to the resin BJD girls that I have in size, but they are made differently, and look like anime/manga characters. They are made of a soft vinyl with a plastic, posable, skeleton, while my current girl(s) are made of resin plastic and held together with elastic string. Dollfie Dreams are also generally sold differently. While there are a couple "standard" Dollfie Dream models out there, most people seek out the limited ones. These limited DDs are also usually licensed characters from anime, manga and games. These are produced in a low number and sold only through a lottery. You have to WIN the lottery to be able to BUY the one you entered for. If you don't win the lottery, you're left with trying to get it through an after-market auction. And let me tell you, they generally go for twice the original price, unless you get lucky.
I had to learn a lot about this lottery system. Many enter the lottery multiple times via different resellers to increase their chances of winning. Problem for me was, of course, money. Volks themselves hold the money in your bank for the item while you wait to find out the results. So my options were limited. Chatter in the community made it obvious that Neris was going to be the real popular one. I took a chance and entered for Neris twice and Airy once. That was all I could manage.
The lottery is staggered and those in Japan can attend the Dolpa (Doll Party) event and win the initial run of dolls before the rest of us, whom have to wait for the online lotteries. Word was spreading fast that Neris was going like hotcakes. Many that tried to get her didn't win and within hours many showed up for sale on auction sites. At this point I figured my two entries for Neris were a lost cause. It seemed, however, that Airy was not popular at all and everyone that entered for her won with no problem.
My first lottery results was from my entry for both girls. The email was sent a little earlier than expected. It said that I had won Airy, but not Neris. While not really surprised, I was happy that I won Airy. She's really cute, but my heart was set on the pair, since they match. My only remaining hope for Neris was my one Volks entry, but I wouldn't find out for another week.
Well, just this morning I got the fated Volks email. Yet again, earlier than expected. Surprised, the email said I won Neris. In fact, I later found out that if you didn't win you don't even get an email. It has been sad to hear from other community members that didn't win her. So I feel very fortunate.
Now, I don't really know anything about Shining Hearts, which is the game these two girls are based off of. I plan to change them into something I like—something that I feel suits them. So, obviously, I will not use the clothes or wigs they come with.
The bad news (besides the small fortune this is going to cost me) is that I will not get mine until AUGUST! Yes, this is a cruel joke, but this is how it works. So the wait begins.
I'm going to be broke for a long time...
As for my second resin BJD girl, she is still on the way. I ordered her in March, but she hasn't arrived yet. She should be here soon. It's been a long wait.
Black Gold Saw Figma
I received my third Black★Rock Shooter figma today. The mysterious Black Gold Saw! I must say, this is the coolest one so far. When watching the Black★Rock Shooter anime you see BRS fight a silent but deadly character. She's Black Gold Saw and her design is really one of my favorites.
She has a HUGE sword with a skull on the end of the hilt. It really does look like a gold "saw" with the serrated teeth. The character herself has long hair split into two movable parts. The rest of the hair is rubber and catches dust like no tomorrow! She has large "skeleton-like" hands that come in many optional poses. My favorite part is her legs. They have these really cool armor parts to them, yet they still look almost futuristic. The horns on her head are semi-transparent.
Overall she's really well painted. Mine came with some chips in her right stocking, but overall it's the same figma quality you'd expect. My pictures don't really do it justice.
Desk Diary 3-8-2011
I told myself I wouldn't buy another one, and yet, I just ordered my second BJD (ball-jointed doll). She's another Dream of Doll (like my first one), a DoT Calla. She has a bit more serious look about her. She just looks cool and blasé.
When I ordered my first BJD I thought that would be it. Why would I need another one? Better yet, how could I afford another one? However, the fun and yet evil part of the BJD hobby is looking at photos of them. After constantly seeing really nice pictures of other BJDs it wasn't long before I had thoughts of maybe getting another one. Even when looking for my first BJD, I had my eyes on the Dream of Doll - Dream of Teen Calla.
After the new year I decided to start saving for her. It only took a couple months and today I finally ordered her.
Her face gives off a certain attitude and a personality and style has already formed in my mine. I have the perfect outfit that I bought for my first BJD (Jaimee), but never used on her, so it's going to this new one. This one will get a blond wig, which I'll order along with some eyes before she gets here.
I'll be sure to post plenty of photos when she arrives.
In other news, last year turned out to be very much a "goal/soul seeking" year, but it set the stage for things to come. This year I hope put some of those plans into motion. I have another big purchase coming up that will be for the computer. It's another device that's all part of my goal to expand and advance my abilities and options. So stay tuned.